PAIRING OF INSECTS. 207 



and in an instance we have just been examining, of a 

 g-arden spider (Epeira diadcma') which had taken 

 advantage of the suspensory cable Hue of a long- 

 bodied spider (Tetrag?iatka externa), to save itself 

 the trouble of making an exterior frame-work for its 

 net, it was not likely, considering their extreme 

 vigilance, that either would fall into the other's 

 toils * 



On the other hand, animals which feed on vege- 

 tables, or inanimate substances, usually incline to be 

 gregarious, if not decidedly social ; because, for one 

 reason, the material of their food is, for the most part, 

 in sufficient abundance to allow of this, and, in the 

 instance of carrion, it is necessarily confined to a 

 limited space. Accordingly, " Where the carcass is, 

 there will the vultures be gathered together," though 

 otherwise, the vulture is not perhaps more socially 

 disposed than the eagle, or than the burying-beetles 

 {Necrophora), which lend their assistance in destroy- 

 ing dead carcasses, and removing the nuisance they 

 would produce. This congregating for the purpose 

 of feeding seems, in some instances, to be either a 

 cause, or a consequence, of social feelings and habits, 

 which continue to influence the individuals when 

 apart; and hence it is that a cow, or a sheep, will 

 thrive better when amongst its fellows, than when 

 kept in a cottage-paddock alone. Even two or three 

 are not content by themselves ; jand we have seen in 

 such cases every effort made to leap hedges, and 

 cross ditches and canals, by small groups of cows, 

 desirous of associating with their kindred, — the parties 

 on the opposite sides of the intervening obstacle ap- 

 pearing to be equally solicitous to surmount it. Such 

 endeavours have always reminded us of the French- 

 man in the back settlements in Louisiana, who, if we 

 may credit the Abbe du Pratz, annually travelled to 



* J. R. 



t2 



